Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Oswalt Said He Feels OK

Roy Oswalt got hit behind the right ear by a line drive yesterday in Port Charlotte. He spoke to reporters this morning at Bright House Field. He seemed to be in good spirits. The right side of his neck is swollen, but other than that looked fine.

Here is some of what he said:

Q: How do you feel? How did you sleep last night?A: I actually slept pretty well. I’m a little bit stiff this morning, but overall I’m OK.

Q: Did you have any time to react?A: Yeah. He didn’t hit it the best he could hit it. I saw it a little bit out in front of me. I thought it was going to go above me, and that’s why I tried to duck. But it had a little bit of top spin or something on it. The ball kind of tracked me.

Q: The neck looks swollen. It’s just stiff? It’s not painful or anything?A: Just stiff.

Q: No headaches?A: No. Last night a little bit, but not too bad.

Q: Are you going to have concussion tests?A: I don’t know. We did a CT scan yesterday and it looked good.

Q: Have you ever had anything like that happen?A: I’ve been hit a bunch, but not in the head. That’s the first time it got close.

Q: Do you feel lucky?A: Yeah. As long as I don’t get hit in the face. I actually had a good friend that got hit in the neck — Mike Coolbaugh, who used to play with us in the Astros. (Coolabugh died in 2007 when a line drive struck him in the neck while he stood in the first base coach’s box.) When I first got hit you kind of ask yourself, did you just really get hit right there? I remember I was laying on the ground thinking, “Did I just get hit in the head?” It kind of surprises you more than anything. Then you don’t really know what to do. You don’t know if you need to get up real quick or whatever, so I just stayed down and asked (athletic trainer Mark Andersen), “Can I get up?” He just made me stay down for a while longer.

Q: You wanted to stay in the game, right?A: When I got up I felt like I probably could pitch.

Q: How well did you know Mike?A: We used to play cards all the time in Spring Training. I knew him pretty well.

Q: Did you attend any of his services or anything?A: We did some stuff for his wife. We knew it was going to be pretty hard coming through that. The Astros did a real big thing for him.

Q: From a practical standpoint, you only threw 57 pitches. How does that affect you?A: I’ll be fresh.

Q: Are you going to pitch next Monday?A: Yeah, whenever. I should be fine. I’ll probably take today off and try to throw some tomorrow and see how it feels.

Q: Was your phone blowing up?A: I got a few texts. I got a lot of texts from people I haven’t heard from in a long time.

Q: Was your wife nervous?A: She didn’t know anything about it. She was doing school stuff with the kids.

Q: Have you thought about what could have happened?A: You don’t really think about it. A lot of ifs and couldas. You don’t really think about it in a way.

Q: TV showed you looked pretty coherent just after it happened. The first thing you did was adjust your cap.A: I’ve been in a few fights in my life and have been hit pretty hard, but that one stunned me for a little bit when it first hit me. Before I went down I thought, “Get the ball.” But I thought it might have deflected enough where an infielder could have gotten it. Then it went back toward Brian (Schneider). But in a game I probably would have gotten up and got the ball.

Q: It looked like you smirked when you got up?A: I asked (Rich Dubee), “How many pitches do I got?” He said, “You’ve got enough for today?” I thought I could throw more and get my pitch count up.

Q: Any problems hearing or anything?A: Not just the swellinng. The turning is the biggest thing.

Q: How did Schneider do driving your truck?A: He did well.

Q: You trusted him?A: Yeah.

Q: Did you blame it on him?A: No, but I told Charlie (Manuel), “I’m not supposed to be making road trips. This is what happens when I make road trips.”

Q: Up until that moment you were throwing well?A: It’s probably the best I felt this spring.

I don’t think you can say Oswalt was lucky until he makes his next scheduled start and is able to throw 85 pitches or so WITHOUT any problems with his neck. Would it be appropriate to call him a “redneck” now?…..Sorry.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.